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EXCEEDED OUR EXPECTATIONS!

Sail Date:
January 2013

Destination:
Western Caribbean

Embarkation:
Tampa

Having cruised several other cruise lines, I felt we had realistic expectations of a Carnival cruise, but I had some reservations after reading some of the scathing reviews of the Carnival Legend. But I think some people have unrealistic expectations, some people genuinely have a bad experience for whatever reason, and I think there are some people you simply cannot please no matter what you do, but our experience was smooth from start to finish.

EMBARKATION: Left out of Tampa. Booked a room through Stay 123 at Holiday Inn Express for the evening before the cruise. What a deal! For only $17 more than parking at the port we had a room with a terrific location(right at Tampa stadium, so lots of restaurants and shopping nearby), a hot breakfast, parking for the duration our cruise, and a shuttle to and from the pier. The hotel allowed us to stay in our room until the 12:30 shuttle to the pier. Walked right up to the counter and were boarded in less than 10 minutes. Cabin was More
ready. Dropped off our carry-on bags, had lunch on the Lido deck and our other bags were in the room by the time we got back. Smooth as silk.

SHIP: Layout of the ship is similar to other Carnival ships, but the ship decor is unlike other Carnival ships we've been on that had the bright, neon colors. The decor was much more subdued and elegant. Had read reviews about the ship not being clean and being in a state of disrepair. We never saw ANY area of the ship that was not clean and we saw crews every day painting, shampooing carpets, replacing signs that had faded and doing other general maintenance. There were a couple of rust spots where the wall met the floor on our balcony, but they were very small, and our balcony was cleaned during our cruise.

CABIN: We had a balcony cabin, which was spacious with king-size bed, couch, nice vanity area and lots of storage/closet space. Suitcases fit neatly underneath the bed. We were located on deck 8 directly below the Lido deck, which was really convenient and quiet at night.

DINING: We had breakfast and lunch on the Lido deck and dinner in the main dining room with the anytime dining option. We never had to 'jockey' for a table on the Lido deck and tables were cleaned quickly once they were vacated. There was a wide variety of choices aside from the standard hot dogs/burgers, which is why we ate there rather than going to the dining room for lunch. In the main dining room we usually dined between 7:30 and 8:30 and we only had a short wait (less than 15 minutes) one night for a table. We shared a table 2 nights but were able to dine the other 5 nights by ourselves with no wait at all.

The dining room offered ample selections -- several different starters, entrees and desserts every evening in addition to the selections that are offered every day. The service was always smooth, with no long wait between courses, and the staff were always friendly and helpful. By the 3rd night the bar staff had remembered my wine of choice and greeted me by asking if I was having 'my usual'. The meals are not "fine dining" or the gourmet fare offered by some cruise lines, but you have to keep in mind that you are not paying premium price on a premium line, so it's simply unrealistic to expect a premium dining experience. Having said that, hot dishes were always served hot, cold dishes were always served cold, the food was beautifully presented and quite good. In fact, the lobster and shrimp were some of the best I've ever had on a cruise, regardless of the price. Many times it's dry and overcooked, but it was perfectly cooked, moist and delicious. My husband had the lasagna one evening, which was also very good. In fact, every dinner was good except for one seafood pasta dish which was simply to my taste. There was a great selection of starters each evening, and the gazpacho, stuffed portabello mushrooms and ahi tuna tartare were especially good. There was also a good variety of desserts offered each evening. We had a great creme brulee, a wonderful Grand Marnier souffle, and a dark chocolate amaretto cake that was pure heaven. And if nothing else strikes your fancy, the warm chocolate melting cake is always a great alternative.

We never tried the specialty dining room and the only food we purchased was a HUGE slice of strawberry cheesecake which was only $2.25! Drinks are of course pricey, as they are on all ships, but we are not big drinkers and we took 2 bottles of wine onboard.

ACTIVITIES: As far as ship activities, we pretty much prefer to just snag a lounge chair (which also was never a problem) and read, nap or simply people watch. The Serenity area was very nice and we had a wonderful nap in one of the hammocks. There were of course the obligatory 'hairy chest contests' and other poolside activities for those who wanted to participate, plus bingo, scavenger hunts, game shows, trivia and the like, although it did seem there were fewer offerings (and less participation) than I've seen on some other cruises. Fortunately we had gorgeous weather every day except for our last day at sea when it was overcast and breezy much of the day.

ENTERTAINMENT: We only went to a show in the Follies lounge 2 evenings, and they certainly weren't Vegas-class shows, but they were quite enjoyable. What we really enjoyed were the adult comedy shows every night in the Firebird Lounge -- REALLY good comedians.

STAFF: The staff were all courteous and helpful. I heard a few people complaining that they weren't "friendly" enough, but I certainly did not experience that. For the most part they did not joke and cut up with the passengers like I have seen on some cruises, but frankly I did not go on this cruise to make new foreign friends, and the level of service was certainly more than adequate from the room steward to the bartenders to the dining room staff. There was one young man at the Guest Services counter who seemed a little "dour" and abrupt, but he certainly wasn't rude -- he just wasn't as courteous and

STAFF: All staff we encountered were friendly and courteous, with the exception of one young man at the Guest Services desk who had a sour attitude and was a little abrupt. He wasn't really rude, just not quite as pleasant as the other staff we interacted with. We heard a few people complain that the staff was not friendly, but we certainly never experienced that. They did not joke and cut up as much as I have seen on some other cruises, but frankly I didn't take the cruise in order to make new foreign friends, and we found them all to be very helpful and efficient, if perhaps some of them were not as outgoing and friendly as others.

OTHER CRUISERS: This was a much more 'mature' crowd than I've typically seen on Carnival ships, but a lot of that may be due to the time of year it is (no school breaks) There were VERY few children and a huge contingent of "red-hat" ladies on board. It certainly wasn't a geriatric crowd, but I'd say that easily over half the passengers were over age 50.

DISEMBARKATION: Getting off the ship in port went smoothly and efficiently. I have been on a cruise before where we stood packed in a lower deck hallway for over 45 minutes waiting to get off the ship. We took tenders into 3 of the ports and walked off the ship in one port, and every one went quickly and smoothly, with only a few minutes waiting time in the lounge for the tenders.

Final disembarkation was smooth as well. We elected to carry off our luggage, so we left our cabin at 8:30, waited in comfort in the library until 9:15, which is exactly the time it listed that we would be called, and we were off the ship and outside the terminal in less than ten minutes.

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Cabin review: 8D8131

Cabin 8131. Balcony w/unobstructed view. Located underneath Lido deck, so it was quiet at night, except for the wind which howled around the corner on a couple of nights. A little motion, but very gentle. Very near stairway/elevator. Lots of closet/storage space. Very nice!

Port and Shore Excursions

We did the city tour and airboat ride. There wasn't much to the tour -- saw some really poor areas of the city. The airboat ride was fun, but you certainly won't see much wildlife. We did see some various birds, but no turtles or manatees. There was one small crocodile they they lured up on the bank with bait, but the ride through the marsh itself was quite enjoyable.

Amazing River & Cavern Explore

Having snorkled and toured the Mayan ruins in Cozumel previously, we opted for the Amazing Secret River tour. And it was just that -- AMAZING! We took about a 30-minute tender ride and then a short bus ride, part of which was on REALLY bumpy dirt roads. Only 6 people in our group and we only saw one other group, so it wasn't crowded at all. Guide was wonderful and we spent approx. 1 1/2 hour in the caverns. No camera was allowed, which means you have to purchase their photos, but realistically it would have been impossible to manage a camera anyway, and most cameras would not have adequate flash for the photos to turn out well. TIP: They offer you a walking stick -- Take one!! Helps immensely with keeping your balance. Water was chilly, but with the wetsuit on it was not uncomfortable. There were only two places where we had to swim through, but if you can dog paddle you can certainly make it fine. Our guide was wonderful and it was an incredible experience.

Dolphin Swim

Wonderful experience!! Again, no cameras allowed, so you have to buy their photos, but there would be no way to take photos while you're doing it anyway. The swim takes place in a small cove where they said the water was 25-30 feet deep. This was just so much better than doing it in a pool. The dolphins swam by for us to stroke them, "danced" and "sang" for us. Then they had them swim up into our arms for us to stroke their backs and stomachs. Then we swam out probably 50 feet from the platform and the dolphin came out to us, we grabbed hold of their flippers and they pulled us back toward the platform. Wonderful experience and combined with the stingray swim is definitely worth the money!

Stingray Swim

We've been to Hell before (not impressed!) and to the turtle farm (which is great, especially for kids), so this time we opted for the stingray/dolphin swim tour. This is the 3rd time I've done the stingray swim and it was by far the best. We were on the boat My Way with captain Jim, and it was wonderful. The water was a little choppy, but it was not nearly as crowded as the last time I went and we stayed in the water with the rays for over 45 minutes. We were allowed to feed and pet them and have pictures made with them while the crew held them, but in addition to that several of them just swam up into my arms. They are such incredible creatures, and this is the only place where you can interact with them in the open ocean. Jim was really informative and you could tell that he's one of those people who genuinely love their job. On the way back they pulled up several conch shells, cleaned them and let us sample the raw conch (which was surprisingly good). He also stopped and brought up a huge, beautiful starfish which we held and made photos with before returning it quickly to the water. Definitely worth the money!!

There is a very nice little shopping area right as you walk off the ship. We did a tour to Gumbalimba Park, which we really enjoyed. We had a good guide and were able to spend quite a bit of time interacting with the monkeys. A mother with an 8-day old newborn on her back jumped on my husband's shoulder and groped in his pocket looking for treats. We got some great photos. Also got great photos in the area with the parrots, which I had a closeup and personal encounter with one of them. There was a railing where a large red parrot was perched. I sat on the bench in front of the railing and just as my husband snapped a photo, the parrot jumped down and tried to take a plug out of my thigh! Thankfully he didn't break the skin, but it hurt like blue blazes and I had a bruise the size of a baseball the next morning! We also saw many iguanas and the island "rabbits" which look more like big rats without tails. Many people also did the zipline, but we only live an hour from the Guinness world record zipline and have experienced that, so we passed on the zipline, although the people who did it seemed to enjoy it.